RAIN!
IT’S RAINING! There is nothing quite so exciting in this state of Mediterranean extremes. I literally cannot remember the last time it rained (if you exclude the four giant raindrops that fell out of a thundercloud drifting over Leucadia two weeks ago). I know it has been at least six months. SIX MONTHS! One hundred eighty days since rain fell from the sky.
From my gardener’s perspective this is the beginning of spring. I know that some call this the beginning of winter, but I beg to differ. California’s summer drought has more of a winterizing effect on the plant world than winter’s cool temperatures. During the hot, dry Californian summer in the absence of abundant irrigation plant growth slows, perennials go dormant, trees drop their leaves and annual wildflowers go to seed. East coast residents would characterize such plant behavior a sign of the coming winter. The coming of winter has quite a different effect here. The first winter rains cause many California plants push forth new leaves and burst into bloom.
No sprinkler can reproduce the magic of rain. As the droplets fall from the sky they dissolve nitrogen from our atmosphere depositing it on the leaves and around the roots of our poor thirsty plants while gently washing them clean of months of dust and accumulated grime. Plants seem to respond differently to the rain. In the next few days put in your plant eyes and look around, they all look fresher, livelier, perkier like they’ve just been fertilized… which is exactly what’s happening.
In my years of work at botanical gardens I would often watch the forecast and do my planting immediately before the rain. The humidity softens the shock of transplant, and the water moistens and softens the earth. I think it’s almost subconscious at this point. Yesterday’s gray evening found me pacing about the front yard of our new home arranging plants and pushing a shovel through the dying thatch of our Bermuda grass “lawn”. I was compelled to do so. I probably should have been doing other work for my clients but I couldn’t resist, it’s instinctual, primal. Despite our modern comforts and conveniences, our highly modified and controlled environments, we are still creatures of nature, and respond to natural phenomena.
Yay for the rain! Keep your fingers crossed for a good rainy season. It’s not only good for the plants, it’s necessary for our continued survival and success on this arid edge of the continent.
